First of all, this isn’t a review per se, like other websites. This is a blog. I write about games with as much or as little detail as I like. There’s no score. What I try to do here is give parents the sense of what – and how fun – their kids and families might have with the game. And who, if anyone is going to like the game.

3/4 of my family is giving it a pass based on, as you say, first impressions. That doesn’t mean I didn’t play further personally – but in the end I realized for all its charm it wasn’t for me.

GAMERDAD said: “There’s also too much text and I’d like to skip the boat crew entirely, but maybe some people like that part of the sim.”

Personally, and I do know story thank you, I didn’t find the story or the writing engaging at all. It was preachy and shallow, poorly translated from French. It does a GREAT job of removing you from any positive moment the game has created. The educational value is there but nowhere near presented in a way that’s entertaining in itself.

Yes, I should have given more of a sign of the environment varieties – the ship in particular – and the range of features, but you know what? I covered that part of the game by not criticizing the environments and only complaining about how pretty the graphics would have been on an HD system. I said nothing about the game being boring. I talked about “petting and feeding” the fish – and yes, you can do more , but I certainly didn’t imply there wasn’t anything else to do. There’s a feature list on the box.

GAMERDAD: “If you’re the type of gamer, or nongamer, who longs to scuba dive virtually or just spend some meditative calming time with a game – Endless Ocean and this sequel Blue World are ideal. There aren’t a lot of games like this and I think there should be more. A lot more.”

I think you stopped reading before you got to the end Matt. I, and my family, like the idea of EO: Blue World more than you do but I want to see more games this slow paced, beautiful, education and interesting. And on top of that I note that if you scuba or if you want to virtually scuba then this IS the game for you.

You Matt, So go get your feet wet and enjoy!